What to Eat & Drink in Vienna

August 17, 2019August 17, 2019 ~ American Expat in Europe ~ Leave a comment

If you know me, you know I love good food. While there are so many things to love about Vienna (architecture, culture, coffee houses, Christmas markets, and the list goes on and on) here I’ll share my favorite Viennese and Austrian treats!

Wiener Schnitzel – As you walk by restaurants in Vienna, or while at your Oma’s house, you often hear the pounding of the meat in the kitchen. They pound out the veal (or pork or even chicken) until it’s very thin, dip it in flour, eggs, and breadcrumbs, and then fry in oil until golden brown. It’s often served with a slice of lemon for drizzling and a little currant jam for dipping.

White Wine Spritzers – I mean, this drink is genius. They say you should always drink a glass of water in between drinks, right? Well, how about adding water directly to your drink? A spritzer is white (or red) wine – normally a local Grüner Veltliner – with sparkling water, sometimes served with ice and lemon slices. The ratios vary – the “regular” year-round spritzer is about 50/50 wine-to-water and the “summer spritzer” is a little less wine and more water.

Käsekrainer / Cheese-filled Sausage – I’m from Wisconsin so anything filled with cheese is a-okay in my book. They’re normally sold at your corner Würstelstand (“sausage box”) and come in a big hot dog bun (with a hole cut out through the middle – smart) and filled with ketchup, mustard, and fresh shredded horseradish.

Liptauer – This is a very popular spicy cheese dip, one that we’ve made part of our annual Thanksgiving dinner. It’s made with sheep cheese, butter, onion, pickle, capers, mustard, cumin, paprika, and sour cream. It’s really tasty and easy to find at an Austrian supermarket deli counter. Dip bread, pretzels, chips, whatever you like.

Melange + Water – Vienna has a thriving coffee culture so all kinds of coffee are available here, but melange is the most traditional and popular. Melange translates to “mixed” and is made with one shot of espresso served in a large cup with steamed milk and milk foam. It’s always served with a small glass of tap water.

Apfelstrudel // Apple Strudel – Layers of thin, flaky pastry dough are stuffed with apples, raisins, and cinammon, baked, and topped with powdered sugar. Enjoy this after dinner or like the Austrians as part of an afternoon “kaffee und kuchen” (coffee and cake) break. The first time I had this dessert was when my now-husband made it for me in Chicago. He brought his family’s apfelstrudel cloth, which is a large, thin cloth used for rolling out the pastry dough (yes, this really is a thing!) passed down from one generation to the next.

Cremeschnitte // Cream Cake – My favorite Austrian cake. A thin and crispy puff pastry filled with custard and chantilly cream. If you love this cake as much as me, you should be following @cremeschnittenandi on Instagram.

Grammelknödel – I’m convinced these are Austria’s best kept secret. Sure, there are dumplings everywhere here, but these are different. Special. Potato and semolina dumplings stuffed with pork cracklings, onion, and garlic. Yes, you read that right. PORK CRACKLINGS!!! Enough said, am I right? If you’re visiting, this should be at the top of your list of food to try, right next to schnitzel.

Sturm – Only available once a year – normally the end of September to mid-October – Sturm is a young wine that’s basically fermented fresh pressed grape juice. It tastes like carbonated grape juice and has only about 1% alcohol.

Gulasch – This beef stew is a Hungarian classic turned Viennese staple. There’s even a Gulasch Museum here in Vienna! My favorite version includes sauerkraut and potatoes. As with most stews, the key is to cook it low and slow.

Kaiserschmarrn // Emporer’s Mess – Kaiserschmarrn, named after Franz Josef, is a caramelized and shredded sweet pancake served with powdered sugar, applesauce, and jam.

Elderflower Syrup // Holunderblüten Syrup – Elderflower is everywhere here. Austrians like to add a little syrup to a glass of carbonated or still water. Kind of like a non-alcoholic spritzer. They also make a sweet fried bread with the flowers. Our favorite brand to buy is Austria’s very own Darbo.

If you’d like to follow my culinary adventures in Vienna, take a look at @hungry.in.europe on Instagram. ♥

Acclimating to Life in Vienna: The Girly Book Club & VoiceMap Walking Tour

August 31, 2018September 1, 2018 ~ American Expat in Europe ~ Leave a comment

As many of you know, Robert and I moved to Vienna, Austria in early July! Vienna is his hometown so we’re surrounded by family and old friends, and we’re making new friends. It’s very good to be here and back in a big city. ♥

However, I must admit that I haven’t spent a whole lot of time in Vienna myself – just a few weeks here and there over the last few years. So, I’m a bit of a tourist in my own city!

Fortunately, there is a large American community (see the U.S. Americans in Vienna, Austria Facebook group, for example) and a large international English-speaking community (if you’re female, check out the Women of Vienna Facebook group) here.

I’ve done a couple of things to help acclimate myself to my surroundings and meet new people. The first thing I did was start a Girly Book Club (GBC) chapter here in Vienna called (obviously!) the Vienna Girly Book Club.

I was a member of the chapter in Stuttgart, Germany for the last couple of years and really loved our monthly meetings and discussions. We read and discussed great books and I even made a few life-long friends (shout out to Sarah in Stuttgart and Lisa now in Berlin!) So, why not do the same here in Vienna, right?!

We all read the same book, selected by GBC, each month and we meet here in Vienna at phil (such a cool place in the 6th district near Naschmarkt – it’s part library, part bookstore with comfy couches, amazing drinks, and tasty food and homemade cakes) on the last Monday of each month at 19:00. There is a nominal fee of €5 to attend. If you’re interested in joining us, please join our Facebook group! We meet again on Monday, September 24th and we’ll be discussing Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward, which won a National Book Award and was shortlisted for the 2018 Women’s Prize for Fiction. It sounds like a good one!

The second thing I did was seek out a good walking tour of the center of the city (the 1st district), all of the beautiful and touristy stuff that I figure I should know something about! 🙂 I tried and loved my Vienna walking tour with Alex (he’s the local English-speaking guide) at VoiceMap.

The tour is unique in that it uses GPS to track your exact location and give you the information you need at any given point along the walking route. Very cool! If your phone signal or GPS isn’t working for whatever reason, no problem, you can simply follow the map and click on the icons you see when you arrive at designated spots along the tour. Super easy!

My Vienna walk started at the Opera House and ended at St. Stephen’s cathedral. It was 60 minutes in total. I loved that I could do this tour on my own, and on my own time and at my own pace. It’s totally okay to pause the tour if you want to grab lunch, take photos, do a little shopping, whatever. Personally, I took three breaks – one for a sausage, one for an ice cream, and the last for an iced latte. 🙂 And, I was able to pick up exactly where I left off, no problem. Alex even recommends stopping at a Würstelstand (“sausage box”) while you’re on your tour so there’s absolutely no reason to feel guilty about eating a very unhealthy sausage snack (he even tells you a bit about the history of the käsekrainer hot dog!) So, essentially you can make this walking tour into a food tour on your own – bonus!

Other than doing a lot of eating (!!!) I learned everything I really need to know about the Opera House, the Star Walk, Hotel Sacher and the famous Sacher torte, the Albertina Museum, St. Augustina’s Church, the Monument Against War and Fascism, the Donner Fountain, the Capuchin Church, Neuer Markt square, Kärntner Street, and last but certainly not least, St. Stephen’s Cathedral. Without sharing spoilers, I will never look at the facade of St. Stephen’s – or any other cathedral – in the same way again!

I didn’t take photos of everything, but here are are some photos I did take while on the walking tour:

Bottom line, definitely check out VoiceMap. They have this same kind of walking tour available in 120 cities across 47 countries. I’ll be in London in a couple of weeks and I’m already looking forward to the Camden Town: People Watching and Pigging Out tour! Download the free app in the App Store or Google Play, and happy walking!

♥

Vienna’s Naschmarkt

January 13, 2017 ~ American Expat in Europe ~ Leave a comment

Although I’ve only been to Vienna a handful of times, the Naschmarkt is not to be missed when we visit Robert’s family and friends. “Nasch” means “to eat” or “to snack,” which makes sense as it’s Vienna’s largest food market, or market of any kind. The market boasts over 100 permanent stalls and is over 1.5 kilometers long. It is located in the 6th district and is within walking district of all the very touristy (and beautiful) sights including Schönbrunn Palace, St. Stephen’s Cathedral, Hofburg Palace, and the Opera House.

At Naschmarkt you’ll find just about any food product you can imagine. Of course there are a lot of fresh fruits and vegetables and flowers, but also seafood, cheese, nuts, pottery, tea, meat/butchers, wine, oil, sweets, coffee, bread, and more. We visited just after the new year on a very cold day in January so the market was much less busy than usual, which was actually kind of nice as it felt like we had the whole place to ourselves! We wandered around, bought some nice tea, and warmed up in one of the many restaurants on-site. Here are some photos from our visit:

If you’re planning a visit to the Naschmarkt, I found this guide to be really helpful in choosing restaurants to eat at and local specialties to buy.

A New Year in Austria

January 3, 2017 ~ American Expat in Europe ~ Leave a comment

Robert and I made the long drive (~6 hours) from Stuttgart to Bad Fischau, a little village just south of Vienna, to celebrate New Year’s Eve or Silvester (in reference to Saint Silvester) as it is called here and much of this corner of Europe. We spent the evening with Robert’s parents, his sister and her husband, our two young nephews (they were asleep by the time we arrived), and a few family friends. Robert’s parents have the home in Fischau for weekends and holidays, but spend most of their time in Vienna.

We were welcomed with a large spread of meat, cheese, eggs, and veggies for raclette, a traditional holiday dinner in Austria. Simply put, you load up a triangle-shaped metal vessel with just about anything you like. Then, cover with a slice of cheese — one that melts fairly easily, of course. Stick the vessel into the raclette and wait and watch until the cheese on the top begins to bubble and brown. Remove it from the raclette, then scrape out of the vessel with your little wooden spoon onto your plate and enjoy!

Robert’s mother had a ton of ingredients to choose from including tomato, red pepper, mushrooms, capers, olives, garlic, onion, bacon, ham, boiled potatoes, bread, and of course the cheese. This is a tradition I can certainly get behind!

Just before midnight we all headed outside with a glass of champagne to watch the fireworks, which were going off all over Vienna. It felt like the 4th of July in the U.S. Bad Fischau is 20-30 miles south of Vienna, but at a higher elevation so we had a really nice view of the entire city. Also, Robert’s father set off some very nice fireworks in the yard so we had our very own private fireworks display.

After the fireworks we all headed back inside to do Bleigißen, a tradition where you place a small piece of lead on a spoon, melt it over a candle, and then throw the melted lead into a bowl of cold water. Then you try to make out what kind of shape you’ve created and what that might tell you about your life in the new year. As you can see in the pictures below, I started with a small bottle of Sekt (bubbly) and ended up with something that kind of resembled a boat or maybe a lizard or an alien? It’s hard to say, and I have no idea what this creature might tell me about my 2017, but it was fun to do nonetheless.

Finally, we all took turns picking little good luck charms out of grab bags. Typical good luck charms in Austria include mushrooms, ladybugs, and the number 13. You’re supposed to keep these charms in your wallet all year for good luck. I picked a ladybug and a number 13 with a little mushroom:

All in all, my first New Year celebration as an expat in Europe was really, really nice. I experienced new traditions (raclette, fireworks, Bleigeßen, and good luck charms) and felt really welcomed by Robert’s family, despite the language barrier (Deutsch, why must you be so difficult??!)

Happy New Year! Happy 2017!

Dukatenschnitzerl

December 29, 2016 ~ American Expat in Europe ~ 3 Comments

On Christmas Eve Robert and I feasted on fresh raw oysters, a fresh whole baked trout with lemon and herbs, and parsley potatoes before opening gifts in the evening. Unlike in the States, Germans (along with many other European countries) celebrate Christmas on the 24th, Christmas Eve, with a big family dinner and gift exchange in the evening.

On Christmas Day we made dukatenschnitzerl, or little fried balls of pork and fried potatoes with a lemon-thyme salt and fried parsley. This dish reminds me of the classic British fish and chips dish, but pork instead of fish. (Is there honestly anything better than fried pork??!) It´s a classic Austrian dish. We used a recipe from the Wiener Küche cookbook by Susanne Zimmel. FYI: “Dukaten” is an old word for “coin” and the pieces of pork and potato are roughly the size of coins, which is where this dish gets its name — “little coin schnitzel.”

First, here is a list of ingredients you will need:

Potatoes
Fresh thyme
Fresh parsley
Lemon
Pork tenderloin
Butter
Lard
Eggs
Flour
Breadcrumbs
Salt & Pepper

To get started, boil the potatoes until they are soft, about 30 minutes. While the potatoes are boiling, remove a few sprigs of thyme from the stem.

Boiling Potatoes

Fresh Thyme

Then, get out your mortar and pestle to make the lemon-thyme salt. First, place the thyme inside and add the zest of one lemon. Crush well. Then, add salt and pepper and crush well once more. (As you can see, we also added a few dried tomatoes because we had them, but these are not required.)

Fresh Thyme + Lemon Zest

Add Salt & Pepper

While the potatoes continue to boil, cut up the pork tenderloin into bite-sized pieces. Also, set up your flour-egg-breadcrumb station (from left to right) as you can see below. At this point, the potatoes are likely soft and can be removed from the boiling water. Once the potatoes have cooled a bit and are easy to handle, peel them and cut into bite-sized pieces as well.

Boiled potatoes cut into bite-sized pieces

Next, put the butter and the lard (schmalz) into a big pot, which is what you will use to fry the pork, potatoes, and parsley. Allow the butter and lard to melt and then raise the temperature to 150ºC for frying. Add the potatoes to the pot with butter and lard and fry until they´re crunchy like french fries or chips.

Next, fry a few sprigs of fresh parsley in the same pot of hot butter and lard. Make sure to have a plate or bowl lined with paper towel nearby where you can deposit the potatoes, parsley, and ultimately the pork after frying so that any excess frying grease can be absorbed.

Now, take the pork pieces and dip into the flour, then the eggs, and finally the breadcrumbs before placing into the frying pot. Be sure the butter-lard is still at 150ºC for frying. Fry the pork until golden brown in color.

Now that the potatoes, parsley, and pork has been fried you’re ready to assemble! We served our dinner in newspaper cones as if it were street food. Just load up the cone with pieces of the fried pork and fried potatoes and top with slices of lemon, the fried parsley, and the lemon-thyme salt …and bon appetit!

Pumpkin Soup / Kürbissuppe

November 10, 2016 ~ American Expat in Europe ~ Leave a comment

Tonight we made pumpkin soup (in German: kürbissuppe) for dinner. We used a recipe from a cookbook I bought for Robert for Christmas last year, Wiener Küche by Susanne Zimmel. (“Wiener kuche” translates to “Viennese cuisine.”) We used a Hokkaido pumpkin, which we picked up at the Ludwigsburg Pumpkin Festival last month.

The recipe I’m sharing here is for 8 servings (we doubled the recipe from the book). It’s super easy and healthy. Here are the ingredients you will need:

1 Hokkaido pumpkin, de-seeded and chopped into large pieces
1 tablespoon tomato paste
600ml / 2.5c of vegetable (or beef) broth
1/2 diced onion
1 pinch of chili flakes (if you’d like, for a little heat)
1 tablespoon of olive (or other vegetable) oil
100g / 1c of heavy cream
1 teaspoon peanut butter (surprise!)
a drizzle of pumpkin oil

The first step is to dice the onion and chop the pumpkin. At the same time, heat the vegetable stock in a small pot.

Then, heat the olive oil in a medium-sized pot and add the onion and cook until translucent. Then, add the tomato paste and stir until the onion and tomato are incorporated. Finally, add the pumpkin, the vegetable broth, and the chili flakes to the onion-tomato mix and stir well. Cover with a lid and low boil for 15 minutes.

After 15 minutes, remove the lid and add the heavy cream and peanut butter and stir well. Blend all ingredients well with an immersion blender. Finally, spoon the soup into bowls and add a drizzle of pumpkin oil.

ENJOY!

A Wedding in Austria

September 11, 2016 ~ American Expat in Europe ~ Leave a comment

Schloss Weinberg Castle in Kefermarkt, Austria

A few weeks ago, Robert and I made a trip to Austria (his homeland) for his friend Oliver’s wedding. We stayed in a castle (yes, a real castle!!) called the Schloss Weinberg in Kefermarkt. Of course I ate a weiner schnitzel (when in Rome, as they say…) We saw old friends and I was introduced to many new friends, most of whom live in Vienna (we will get there one day!) The ceremony was in a beautiful church and the reception dinner filled us up with typical and tasty Austrian cuisine. We went swimming in a (freezing cold!) lake in a nearby village (Sandl) and made a stop on our way home to Stuttgart to take a dip in the Danube (also freezing) in Linz. I’m still amazed at how many different countries, cultures, languages, and cuisines we can reach by car in just a matter of hours. I mean, just a month ago we were in France and it took us just 1.5 hours to drive there. I feel like a very lucky and spoiled girl…and I’m loving and appreciating every single moment of it.

Wolfgangsee

July 25, 2016 ~ American Expat in Europe ~ Leave a comment

View from Hotel Rossl

Sunset

Hotel Rossl

When in Austria, always eat schnitzel

Happy Birthday!!

Robert and I spent a long weekend at the Wolfgangsee in Austria for my birthday. We stayed at the beautiful Hotel Im Weissen Rossl (The White Horse Inn). We took a boat cruise, rented a paddle boat, spent a lot of time lounging around by the pool, ate a lot of schnitzel (duh!), and just generally had a really relaxing and much-needed getaway.

Oh, and I got my first dirndl, which is a traditional Austrian dress. Never in a million years would I have thought that I would wear one, let alone own one!